Shipley Glen's rock number nine - made famous by hundreds of courting couples across Bradford - is to come under the spotlight if a project looking at love and romance gets approval from the city's young people.

From Monday, hundreds of questionnaires will be handed out to young people between the ages of 16 and 25 asking for their opinion on the scheme called Rendezvous 102. It aims to involve 102 people across the district and to look at 102 years of courtship and romance on Shipley Glen.

If enough interest is generated from the survey, the project will run between May and August next year.

Participants will join teams concentrating on activities such as dance, music, writing, performance and administration - and the final aim will be to put on a huge outdoor show on the Glen itself.

Project Co-ordinator Sara Robinson said: "It's geared towards the unemployed to try to provide cultural opportunities for people who otherwise wouldn't have had them.

"There will also be an opportunity for people to find out about existing provision, for example at Bradford College and local amateur performance groups, so that participants will be able to pursue their interests further."

A partnership project between Pleasure Seekers, the Shipley Glen Project and the Shipley Area Youth and Community Service, the scheme will involve workshop weekends in May, June, July and August next year, followed by a two-week summer school at the end of August which will culminate in a public performance.

The scheme follows a previous project, Tales from the Glen, which involved 100 people over the age of 55 collecting stories, memories, photographs and mementoes of Shipley Glen.

Sara said: "We really wanted to find a way of working between the generations. With the studies collected from the older people, we can ask the younger ones if they think things have changed. We can look back over the last 100 years of courting to see what's happened."

The feasibility study is being funded by a grant from Shipley East's Community Capacity Building Fund.

"We think it would be a really exciting opportunity and great fun to work on," added Sara.

"But we need to know what people want first."

For a questionnaire and to register interest, people should contact the Shipley Area Youth and Community Office on 01274 757035.

* Various ideas abound about the origins of the rock. One is that it was used as a gambling den at the turn of the century because people could sit under it and shelter from the weather while a lookout kept watch for the police.

Another idea is that Shipley Glen was the main venue for love and romance in the district. Rock Number Nine was the first rock a couple could find which was free of other courting couples.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.